The present invention relates to connectors and more specifically to a self-aligning connector to be used with plug-in electrical module connectors.
Presently there is a problem which occurs when misaligned connector contacts are forced to mate together. Often there are damaging forces that occur during the mating operation. These forces, which are perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the mating connector contacts, can cause a variety of anomalities. Some examples of these include: (1) excessive deflection of mated contacts which can result in contact breakage, (2) inability to mate the connectors unless expensive tooling and time consuming assembly procedures are used to prealign the connectors during their installation, (3) uneven/non-symmetrical contact intermating normal forces which can cause unpredictable conductivity characteristics, (4) excessive wear of the finishes on the mating surfaces of the contacts, (5) substandard physical interfacing of the plug-in-module with the system chassis, which will impair thermal transfer characteristics, vibration performance, etc. of the plug-in-module. These problems are common when plug-in-modules are blind mated with backplane connectors.
The misregistration, previously mentioned, is essentially the result of two principal tolerances. One tolerance occurs among the individual contacts within the contact patterns of the two connectors. This is a small and generally inconsequential tolerance relative to the second tolerance which is that of the location of the backplane connector relative to the location of the plug-in-module's connector.
It is an object of the invention to provide a novel self-aligning connector such that when it is installed in a system chassis, it physically self-aligns or registers itself automatically relative to the exact same datum (surface) that the plug-in-module does when it is installed.
It is also an object of the invention to provide a novel self-aligned connector that is economical to manufacture and market.
It is another object of the invention to provide a novel self-aligning connector that is easily installed in a system chassis.